LED Lighting options

[abb8279]

I'm really interested in LED lighting but had a bad experience. I bought one of these lights from Ace and is only lasted a couple of months!

Lights of America® Flame Tip Décor Accent LED Light Bulb with Medium Base - LED Light Bulbs - Ace Hardware

Are there some options for good LEDs that last and that will not break the bank?

Also, I remember reading about new LED technology where a new nano crystal coating gives a much brighter and more efficient light. Any reason why this is not coming to market?

[Mad Scientist]

The amount of light you get from any light source is dependent on the amount of current that is forced through it. The greater the current the greater the light output, however as the light output goes up the life expectancy goes down. Most manufacture try for the most light. The light output from an LED is typically not all that much thus you needed an array of a large number of LED’s to get a meaningful amount of light. Although that is changing. I have a flashlight with a single LED that is able to shine a beam of light to a wall 50 foot away and actually lights up the area. I have made some prototype floodlights that used an array of these high power led’s for an electronics company. So these lamps are on the way but obviously the first ones are going to be a bit pricey.

On the other hand if you are looking for a do-it-yourself project you can buy led’s for around 20 cents and make you own lamps. I currently have around 200 led’s scattered about the house. They are battery powered and the battery is charged from a couple solar panels. Here is a few of my modified lamps.







Also while this is not LED’s but it is really cool stuff a thin wire that lights up. You can bend it into all sorts of shapes.
Live Wire - The Worlds Brightest EL Wire Guaranteed!

[abb8279]

I'm looking to buy quality LEDs that don't fail in 2 months. The Geobulb from C Crane is appealing. EarthLED also makes some bulbs that I'm interested in too. Does anyone have any experience with any of these bulbs? Are they lasting as long as the manufacturers advertise? Is the light output acceptable?

I'm also interested in technology with the new cadmium selenide / zinc sulphide coating that is much more effecient.

Crystal coat warms up LED light - tech - 01 February 2008 - New Scientist

I'm perplexed as to why they don't just start putting the new coating on the bulbs. How hard is it to buy some new coating marterial and spray the damn bulbs with the cadmium selenide / zinc sulphide instead of the old phosphate coating that they use as a carry over from fluorescent bulbs.

[noises]

The guy next door uses LED lights like these for his staging company, (LED Par 38 draws 30 watts and puts out as much light as a 300watt incandescent Par Can.)



Notice they're using a mix of the big 2 watt LED globes in red, blue and green so they can make any color. (means you don't need to use or replace plastic gels for staging applications, or it means you can have any color mood lighting if you used something like this at home instead of floodlighting outdoors.)

all his stuff is sourced online here.